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S.R. Crown Hall

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North Facade of Crown Hall

S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-born Modern architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. Widely regarded as one of the most architecturally significant buildings of the 20th Century, Crown Hall was completed in 1956 during Mies van der Rohe's tenure as director of IIT's Department of Architecture. Crown Hall incorporates a clear span of 220 by 120 feet accomplished by steel plate girders situated above the roof. The building is famous for its clear structural expression, the varying qualities of transparency in its ultra-thin steel and glass facade, and the open, free flowing interior of the "universal space." Upon its opening, Mies van der Rohe declared it "the clearest structure we have done, the best to express our philosophy," and recent critics have gone so far as to call it the Parthenon of the 20th Century.

S.R. Crown Hall was named a National Historic Landmark in 2001, and the remainder of the IIT Main Campus joined on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. In August 2005, a major renovation was completed, restoring Crown Hall to its original look by replacing all exterior glass and stripping and repainting the steel its original "charcoal black."

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